Averting Catastrophe

Though the COVID-19 pandemic is a global problem, it poses the greatest threat to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable. In this episode, PS contributors Esther Duflo, Achim Steiner, and Joseph E. Stiglitz discuss with Ben Chu of The Independent and Lizzy Burden of the Daily Telegraph how developing countries can address the health and economic crises they face.

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Mass protests over racial injustice, the COVID-19 pandemic, and a sharp economic downturn have plunged the United States into its deepest crisis in decades. Will the public embrace radical, systemic reforms, or will the specter of civil disorder provoke a conservative backlash?

For democratic countries like the United States, the COVID-19 crisis has opened up four possible political and socioeconomic trajectories. But only one path forward leads to a destination that most people would want to reach.

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